Thank you Sailfish...It's a ton of work for one person but that's what will keep me going to an old age...lol...not that I'm not old now!!!Here are a few before pics...before because it just won't stop raining enough to plant...sunny today but I have standing water in many places Rain due tonight and next three days...even the garden isn't finished....I will get it all done !!!One pic is taken from the blind I built and you can see the blind in the back ground of clover plot pic...the one pic is a fence I have been building by my self...I cut the blk locust 8ft poles off our place and dug the holes with our backhoe...we have shale...need I say more? ...PS...much straighter than it looks in the pic...must be an odd angle...So far I have enough in place to stretch a hundred yrds of fences...only 2 more to go...I'll be 70 by the time it's done...

Lets see going on 16 yrs now...We had good genetics from sightings of deer we had before we started buying up land...But the way it was hunted before just kept them as occasional walk throughs....How I started was doing every thing possible to get the doe to stay...bucks would always follow come fall...I admit that the main goal going in was to Fix the land...and then when improvements to deer and turkey hunting started I delved into the management further...Each year I have increased the size and age class of deer taken and seen...I won't squeeze the trigger on any buck less than an 8pt but the body size of that 8pt needs to be good...During bow last year I passed several not taking a buck until gun season ...the # of long beards taken and seen has been great...Though due to my knee injury and time I opted on a Jake this year...after passing one opening day...but there were just so many of them around...it really won't impact next year... a second was taken at camp..which I won't manage....I don't rabbit hunt much.... that now has to change because we are getting over run with them...and hunting won't require a dog...Now I'm in the process of getting the grouse to return and increase pheasant sightings...surprisingly the pheasant here hang out in our woods...but I have plots and acres of brush piles and every kind of berry imaginable.This year is the first year that the Bachelor bucks are set up on us...200 hundred acres of vacant fields around us and lots bordering us has been turned into crop land....I believe the boys are looking for a new summer home...having many deep woods plots may be attracting them...Nice for pics...but not really for hunting...IMPE...they tend to move off summer homes in fall...and my doe sightings have gone down..I'll see what happens this fall...then revise plans accordingly....This actually has started with the mast tree plantings...I've increased apples,pears and plum....will add more chestnuts...and persimmons...some older ones are now producing crops....then make sure that I rotate my annuals according to what the farmers plant. Timbering is done as needed and I have a few small areas of hing cuttings scattered about the place...I'll let the neighbors with swamps have the big acreage of undisturbed bedding...I'd rather have scattered bedding in not undisturbed but less frequented areas....they tend to follow the girls to these places....I also make sure that where there is food planted...there is water available. I do not fear honey suckle brush and the wild rose works for me in some areas and I work to keep that and the russian olive under control,but it has iit's uses...now that I fear a bit...lol

msbadger, as usual, your pictures are great, and your food plots and work show how hard you work to make it all come together. I've always enjoyed your information and posts on the NAHC boards, and feel doubly lucky to be able to see and read your comments and pics here, as well.